People who consume unprocessed red meat as part of a healthy Mediterranean diet may reduce their risk of multiple sclerosis (MS), new research led by Curtin University and The Australian National University has found. The research, published in The Journal of Nutrition, examined data from 840 Australians who took part in the Ausimmune Study to determine whether there was a...
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Can nanotechnology repair body organs and heal wounds? Let’s find out
Posted Today Your body’s cellular structure is programmable, making it possible for it to be changed into other kinds of cells. And today, already a number of scientific studies have found at least a couple of ways to reprogram certain types of human cells. Using these methods, the body can potentially become a future ‘gold...
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Eye-in-a-dish’ model helps scientists to uncover ‘surprising’ AMD gene variant
By Lois Zoppi, BA Reviewed by Kate Anderton, B.Sc. (Editor) Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have uncovered a new genetic variant responsible for blood vessel dysregulation in the development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a retinal eye disease whose exact cause is yet to be discovered. The study was published in the journal Stem Cell Reports on 9th May 2019. What is Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD)? Age-related macular...
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Synthetic CBD proves to be cheaper, and just as effective, as its cannabis-derived cousin
A team of chemists from the University of California, Davis, recently demonstrated that a new synthetic analogue of cannabidiol (CBD) may be just as effective for medicinal uses as its naturally extracted counterpart. This synthetic CBD compound also promises to be easier, cheaper and faster to produce. Last year the FDA approved CBD for the treatment of two rare forms of severe childhood-onset epilepsies. This milestone moment marked the first approval...
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New blood test uses DNA ‘packaging’ patterns to detect multiple cancer types
JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have developed a simple new blood test that can detect the presence of seven different types of cancer by spotting unique patterns in the fragmentation of DNA shed from cancer cells and circulating in the bloodstream. In a proof-of-concept study, the test, called DELFI (DNA evaluation of fragments for early interception), accurately detected the presence of cancer DNA in 57% to more than 99% of blood samples from 208 patients with...
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Key link discovered between tissue cell type and different forms of arthritis
UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM Pioneering research by scientists at the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham published today [May 29th] in Nature brings us a step closer to developing targeted therapies for inflammatory diseases. The research team shows, for the first time, that different types of fibroblasts – the most common cells of connective tissue in animals – are organised in different layers in...
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A Disease by Any Other Name
What will it take to see gout as a serious disease? Already an estimated 9.2 million people in the U.S. suffer from this painful form of arthritis[i] caused by too much uric acid in the body.[ii] We know that in just over two decades, all-cause hospitalizations for people with gout have increased over 400%, which...
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Manuka honey to kill drug-resistant bacteria found in cystic fibrosis infections
Manuka honey could provide the key to a breakthrough treatment for cystic fibrosis patients following preliminary work by experts at Swansea University. Dr. Rowena Jenkins and Dr. Aled Roberts have found that using Manuka honeycould offer an antibiotic alternative to treat antimicrobial resistant respiratory infections, particularly deadly bacteria found in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) infections. Using lung tissue from pigs, experts treated grown bacterial infections mimicking those seen in CF patients with Manuka honey. The results...
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Scientists discover ‘switch’ that helps breast cancer spread around the body
Researchers have unveiled clues into how breast cancer cells spread around the body IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON The early-stage research, led by scientists from Imperial College London and The Institute of Cancer Research, London, identified a genetic ‘switch’ in breast cancer cells that boosts the production of a type of internal scaffolding. This scaffolding is a...
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Newly discovered immune cell linked to type 1 diabetes
Rogue defender’ mistakenly spurs attacks on insulin-producing cells in pancreas JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE In a discovery that might be likened to finding medicine’s version of the Loch Ness monster, a research team from Johns Hopkins Medicine, IBM Research and four collaborating institutions is the first to document the existence of long-doubted “X cell,” a “rogue hybrid” immune system cell that...